CURRENTS: EDUCATION

Female enrollment grows at math-science academy

May 25, 2005|By Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

For the first time, there was parity in enrollment this year at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, a residential program for high schoolers at the University of North Texas in Denton. Half the 378 academy students are female, said Dean Richard Sinclair. There are more applications coming in from young women than men, he said.

"We've really made an effort to recruit young women," Sinclair said. "We had to actually reconfigure the dormitory."

Sinclair said the girls who attend the academy, which was created in 1987, prefer the university environment to studying math or science at a public high school.

"Here, everybody's smart," he said. "There's no stigma attached to being smart or liking science and math. They can explore science and engineering without any problems."

And the young women at the academy excel.

The girls are often more focused and make higher grades than the boys, who have more discipline problems, Sinclair said. The presidents of most of the clubs and the class leadership tend to be female.

About 88 percent of the school's graduates major in math, science or engineering. Some go into business administration or education.